Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22

Miscellaneous firearm offences

Tables 17, 17a

Data presented in this section and Tables 17 and 17a are based on Recorded Crime in Scotland 2022-23 National Statistics, not Police Scotland firearms data returns.

The number of miscellaneous firearm offences recorded by the police, relating mainly to the possession, handling and distribution of firearms and ammunition, rose from 452 in 2018-19 to 537 in 2019-20, an increase of 19%. In 2020-21, the first full year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, 432 offences were recorded, a decrease of 20% from 2019-20. This decreased by a further 18% to 356 in 2021-22, the only other full year affected by COVID-19. For further information on Miscellaneous firearm offences please see Annex 4.

The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect on 31 December 2016, meaning there are now six full recording years of offences committed under this act. These show a decline in recorded offences, beginning with 396 offences in 2017-18 and followed by 336 offences in 2018-19 and 296 offences in 2019-20. In 2020-21, this fell further, to 257 offences, and in 2021-22, they fell even further, to 215. However, the decreases in the latter two years may in part be due to the COVID-19 pandemic.